Monday, November 21, 2011

Get a Training You For Success

Applying for a new job can be daunting. So can going for that promotion. In today's climate there are only so many positions available and not everyone is going to get chosen. Who you know is just as important as what you know but when using your network to get ahead how can you set yourself apart from the competition?

Job positions will always have a minimum set of requirements. A degree is usually the bare minimum and beyond this some jobs will specify other necessary requirements such as Prince 2, PMP, CCNA, FSA or CFA. But what do we do once we've met these minimum requirements -another few acronyms on your CV and you're bound to stand out...right?

What if someone was to tell you that you that you can stand out by focusing not only on exams and additional qualifications but on your own personality - that's right - you can actually train you to be the best!

We've all met them...super successful people without an acronym to their name. Indeed some of the most successful people in our society are not formally educated: Richard Branson, Alan Sugar and Karen Brady are just a few well known examples. So what is it that makes these people exceptional and how can everyone else get some of it?

According to British Psychologist, Rob Yeung by understanding your personality traits and doing daily exercises to improve your traits you can better manage yourself and also those around you. Yeung encourages us to celebrate all of our different traits the good and bad and tells us how to identify opportunities that we will naturally excel in based on our own unique personality blend. Indeed Richard Branson states that by recognising his ability to connect with people he was able to increase his success and identify opportunities that would best suit him.

Yeung avoids these discrepancies by focusing on 7 elements of your personality:

1. Inquisitiveness - Are you a curious, creative person or someone detail-oriented and practical?

2. Resilience - How emotionally tough are you? Do you pine over past mistakes and let them affect your present choices or do you bounce back and move on?

3. Affiliation - Are you an extrovert who naturally gravitates towards others? Are you more comfortable alone?

4. Conscientiousness - Do you possess high levels of discipline and self-control or are you free willed, fun-loving and adventurous?

5. Sensitivity - Can you make tough, cut throat decisions or do you naturally seek to please others?

6. Knowledge questing - Do you learn through reading and studying or are you a 'hands on' type of learner?

7. Drive - Are you highly ambitious or fairly easygoing in life?

Yeung states that there are benefits and disadvantages of being on either end of the scale. Are you sensitive and naturally more inclined to please others? If you're applying for a senior role as a book publisher or marketing executive you may need to train yourself to get to the more cut throat end of the spectrum? Or how can you adopt this part of your personality and use it to separate you from your colleagues and peers in this field?

By arming us with information Yeung enables us to plan our next move of attack. We can market ourselves as different to the competition simply based on who we are or do daily exercises to get us closer to the side of the spectrum most fitting for our chosen career. So the next time you decide you want to get ahead at work and go for that promotion don't just look externally for training opportunities. Focus on your inner strengths, you may find out you have more than enough within you to beat the competition.